timebomb ( caius volturi )

thirteen

Arden Black had been spending the majority of her limited days at the Cullen residence.

She had taken up a securely neutral position and refused to pick sides when it came to the debate on Isabella Cullen.

The brunette could understand both sides of the argument and that put her in quite the difficult position. She understand Isabellas wish for motherhood, though the brunette never wanted kids herself she knew that for people like Isabella the desire was quite intense. However the fact that the child inside her womb was quite literally killing her from the inside out made the matter different.

Things were also becoming much harder in the sense that Arden's tumor continued to multiply at an alarming rate, leaving her with much more bad days than good.

All together the fact was quite simple. Both Arden and Isabella were dying, but only one of them had even the slimmest chance of survival.

A familiar voice broke Arden out of her fitful sleep and the brunette opened her eyes to see her older brother yelling at her best friend.

The werewolf was obviously distraught over seeing Bellas condition, though he was yet to even notice his dying sister on the couch.

"Wow Jake, you don't even say hello to your sickly sister, I'm quite offended." Arden stated, voice heavy with sleep. Jacob turned immediately at the voice of his younger sister and his eyes widened upon seeing her. She looked worse, her skin had lost most of its natural russet color and her bones seemed weaker due to the weight loss.

The male hadn't seen his sister much lately due to the fact that she had been staying at the Cullen's so Carlisle could look after her at all hours.

"I know I'm gorgeous but quit staring." Arden said with a small smirk and everyone chuckled.

Seeing his sister in her state was simply too much for the werewolf and he turned on a dime and ran out of the room. Seeing her brother leave made the brunette frown, bella who notice this attempted to stop the look.

"He's just upset about me Arden, it's not you." Bella stated and the dying brunette narrowed her eyes for a split second before giving Isabella a fake smile and nodding.

"I know Bella. It's always been you he cares the most about." Arden stated, whispering the last part, though all the vampires in the room still heard and flinched at the acidic tone her voice held.